When All Is Lost
by Making Aprilxx
Summary: Seikuu wants out. Seikuu gets out. But what happens after that? It's all up to the Akatsuki now. TobixOC. Possible OOC. Mild Spoilers.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, hey, hey everyone! This is my first Tobi/Akatsuki story ever, so forgive me if any of the characters are OOC. Thanks for reading!**

**orangexswirlz**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. I only own Seikuu, from whose point of view this story is told from.**

* * *

Seikuu: 

To Become Nothingness.

That is the name they gave to me ever since I arrived. They've held me here longer than I can remember. But I do remember I used to live with them before they locked me up in here. Who's "they"? "They" are the ones who fear power, like mine. "They" are humans, the ones I despise, even if I am one of them.

It is humans that put me in this empty room, only opening the door to feed me and give me a change of clothes. That's the way it has been for 7 years now, and I'm absolutely sick of it. If only I were able to use my jutsu in this colorless, empty room. I would leave here the first chance I got. I would kill again to get out of here. That's how desperate I am.

Who am I? Why was I born? What is the world like without me?

These are the things I think about. You'd think I'd figure a lot of things out just sitting here. But I haven't answered any of these questions. It's been a while since I've heard anything about the outside world, and I'm aboslutely sick of it.

For locking me in here, these other humans will pay. Whatever it will take to get back at them, I'll do it.

"Kisame, do it." A deep male voice crooned, breaking me from my thoughts.

"Of course, Itachi-san." An equally deep voice grumbled in response, the sound following being a shriek of terror and some loud hacking sounds. A moment of silence passed. "Was that clean enough?"

"Yes, for you. Now, open the door. Someone will have heard that." The voice, by now whom I had figured was Itachi, and the other Kisame of course, plainly replied. I was beginning to wonder who they were, and why they were here, and why someone screamed.

However, my questions were quickly answered.

The door opened, and in stepped two men, one with mysterious red eyes, and the other shark-looking, with bluish skin and a large sword on his back. They both wore a black cloak with red clouds. Past them and into the room behind them lay a man, resting in his own pool of blood.

"Ah, there she is." Kisame said matter-of-factly, stepping into my empty, colorless room. For the first time in a very long time, I was able to see something other than these walls, another color other than gray. I was practically blown away.

There was a long moment of silence as I said nothing, merely staring over my huched-up knees at Kisame, until Itachi spoke.

"You are to come with us. We will give you power." Itachi stated. He sounded more imperative than offeratory. I was assuming he had some kind of strong power, because Kisame seemed to listen to Itachi and act very respectful.

"Why me?" I asked, surprised at the sharpness of my tone. I hadn't spoken in a while. It felt weird to talk again.

"You have a great power our…organization will need." Itachi answered bluntly, careful not to name the organization. It wasn't like it mattered anyway. I wouldn't have known, being holed up in here so long. I stared another long moment, mulling over his sentence.

"Well…Only under one condition." I said slowly, hoping this wouldn't be offensive in any way.

"And what would that be?" Kisame asked, his hand resting on the handle of his inhumanly large sword. Just in case.

"…Get me the hell out of here."

* * *

My first breath of the open desert air was indescribable. It was so clean, and so dry, so real. In that room, it was nothing but stuffy and in need of filtering. It was a wonder I hadn't gotten sick, being holed up in _there_ for so long. 

"We're taking you to our base. If you know how to manipulate your chakra, follow after us. If not, we'll carry you there. Understand?" Kisame asked gruffly. Even though he was grinning, he still looked pretty intimidating to me. After I nodded, he spoke again. "So, you can use your chakra?" I nodded another time. "Then let's get going."

As the three of us ran across the desert sands, I couldn't help but take everything in: the red color of the sand, the blue of the sky. Once you're away from them for so long, you forget how wonderful they are. But to interrupt my rare happy thoughts, a few more important ones came to mind.

What did these two men need me for in the first place? And what kind of organization were they in? I would have to find this out before we got to their 'base'.

"Say, uh…Kisame-sama…" I began, not sure how to address him. I had no idea how powerful he or Itachi were, but I had to at least ask these questions.

"Yes?" Kisame asked, turning to look at me. Under his gaze, I couldn't help but feel even more nervous and inferior. Lucky me, I was good at hiding things like this.

"I was wondering…How you knew who I was and why you need me in the first place." I asked back, doing my best to withhold his gaze and interest. On my other side, Itachi didn't seem to notice or care I was speaking to his accomplice.

Kisame let out a laugh, which sounded a bit more like a hoarse growl to me, and grinned even bigger still, his sharp teeth brilliantly on display for me to shrink away from in fear.

"Those two questions will be answered soon, Seikuu. Very soon." Kisame assured me, turning to face the front again. I took that as a notion to keep my mouth shut. Only one thing still bothered me.

…_How did he know my name?_

* * *

"Welcome to the base of the Akatsuki, Seikuu." Kisame declared as we stepped down into a large tunnel he had just procured. It had come out from no where, so I assumed it was some kind of genjutsu to keep anyone but the Akatsuki from entering. I followed him and Itachi down the tunnel for a while until we reached a door. Itachi knocked five times consecutively, and it opened, revealing a man with wild blonde hair, and the same cloak as Kisame and Itachi. 

"Kisame, Itachi. I see you've completed your mission." The man spoke, looking past Itachi and at me. He was even more eerie to me than Kisame, which was really saying something. I couldn't help but feel this man was important by the way Itachi spoke to him.

"Yes. She agreed to come with us, but we haven't explained the details to her quite yet." Itachi replied, looking back at me with his cold, red eyes. I couldn't help but suppress a shudder. No one could ever have a gaze so intense like that. No one normal.

"Ah, then step inside. I'm sure Zetsu's new apprentice will gladly explain everything to Seikuu." The man airily said, gesturing into the room. Kisame gave me a quick and rough push in the back, and I clumsily stumbled into a large room. It looked strangely like an average home. There was a kitchen, a TV and couch, and a few more doors leading to who-knows-where.

"Sit. We'll be back out shortly." The blonde man said to me, and I quickly obeyed, hastily walking over and plunking down on the squishy couch.

Kisame gave me another little grin as he passed by before stepping into one of the other doors with the leader and Itachi, leaving me completely alone. I looked around with interest, and spotted a poster on the wall. The title was "Bijuu" and had nine drawings of animals with tails, the first picture having one, the second having two, and so on. I could only wonder what "Bijuu" meant and why there were animals on the poster.

"Well, hello!!" A happy voice called out, causing me to jump and turn my head to the source of the noise. It turned out to be a boy with messy black hair and an orange mask covering his entire face, swirls ending at his right eye socket. I immediately relaxed upon seeing him. He definitely wasn't a threat to me. Actually, he didn't look like much of a threat to anyone. "You must be Seikuu-san!! I'm Tobi. It's nice to meet you!"

"I'm…Seikuu." I replied uneasily, the side of my mouth twitching. This would be great. I would be staying with someone as annoying as _Tobi_. "How...did you know my name?"

"Oh, Zetsu-san was talking about how we'd be training together once you arrived. This is going to be so much fun!!" Tobi laughed, jumping up and down in excitement. Now that he was a bit closer, I could tell that he was around my age, maybe a year older. But by the childish way he was acting, I'd think a year younger.

"Zetsu?" I asked hesitantly, wondering who on Earth he was. Then it occurred to me that there were probably other members of this "Akatsuki".

"Yes! Zetsu-san is a kind person and will be training us so we might be able to join the Akatsuki and fill in the remaining two open spots. But that's not likely to happen, sadly. It'll take us many years to get as strong as them." Tobi sighed, striking a strange, dramatic pose.

"Tell me, what does the Akatsuki do, exactly?" I asked yet again. If Zetsu was going to train Tobi, then Tobi must be the one who the leader was talking about. He would be able to answer my questions. Hopefully.

"The goal of the Akatsuki is to track down the tailed beasts. Tailed beasts, or Bijuu, are demons with incredible power and are usually sealed up away in a Jinchuuriki to prevent destruction. The Akatsuki wishes to extract the Bijuu from the Jinchuuriki in order to obtain the chakra. They will do this so they will be able to rule over the entire continent, and then eventually the entire planet." Tobi recited cleverly, brightly smiling underneath his mask afterwards, evidently proud of himself for remembering all of that information.

"Oh…" I replied, not sure how to react. So, to sum it up, the Akatsuki wanted world power, and Tobi and I were to be trained to help them reach their goal. That sounded pretty simple. I guess it was the least I could do for them. They did let me out of my "prison", after all. "How will we be trained?"

"I actually don't know yet. I arrived a few days before you." Tobi honestly answered, giggling. This only made me more convinced he was young.

"How old are you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. I was expecting 14, or maybe 15.

"I'm 17! Just turned." He giggled again when my eyes widened a bit. I shook it off. How could childish Tobi be two years older than _me_?

"Stop laughing like that." I snapped after a minute of hearing his soft giggling, folding my arms. This Tobi person made me really irritated for some reason.

"Awww. Why? Don't you like laughing? It burns calories, you know." Tobi laughed again, probably just to piss me off even more.

"Stop." I snapped again, this time with more intensity.

Tobi took a moment to snicker some more.

"...Start."

"I'll kill you!" I growled, finally snapping and lunging for the annoying, orange-masked _boy_.

"Seikuu!" Kisame's voice growled loudly and angrily from behind me. He caught me by the collar and lifted me up around a foot off the ground. All I could do was grunt in surprise. "You and Tobi are to get along perfectly. I'm sure he explained everything to you accurately. Listen to him and Zetsu while I'm not here." With that, he dropped me to the floor. Luckily, I caught myself on my feet before I collapsed even farther down, to the ground.

"Fine." I murmured angrily, swearing at him profusely under my breath as he and Itachi left through the same door we entered from.

Tobi snickered at my anger.

I cursed him to his grave.

Tobi snickered again.

"I'll KILL you!!!'

...Need I go on?

* * *

"Tobi, I _swear_ if you throw _one_ more piece of your waffle at me..." I growled, standing up from the table me and Tobi were sitting at, angrily clutching my fork with the points towards Tobi threateningly. After two days, I thought I'd get used to him. 

But no, he decides to make my life hell instead.

And yes, flicking bits of his already chewed, burnt waffle covered in syrup is the perfect way to do it.

"What? It's not my fault you hate waffles..." Tobi muttered, innocently shying away from me.

"Well, yeah, I kind of hate them when they've already been in your mouth!" I shouted again. "Whatever Zetsu-san said about you being a 'good boy' yesterday was complete and total B.S.!"

"You don't have to be so harsh, Seikuu-san. I was only trying to have fun." Tobi whined. He put on the most adorable face he could muster, and even I had to admit it was incredibly cute. For some reason, Tobi seemed to bring out a lot of emotion from me, especially when he wasn't wearing his mask. To tell the truth, besides Kisame-san, the only person I really did enjoy being around was Tobi, in a way. He makes me feel more human, at least.

"Yeah, well..." I took a moment to cool off. "Just...throwing things at me that are covered in saliva isn't the best idea. Stop."

"Yes, ma'am..." Tobi whimpered. You had forgotten to wipe off the death glare you had been wearing and that only scared the poor boy even more. If you weren't so icy, you'd feel bad for being so mean to such a sweet kid.

"And stop eating those waffles. They're disgusting." You sneered, eyeing the rich, fluffy, syrup-covered waffle with intense enmity.

"You don't like waffles?!" Tobi gasped, hunching over his morning sweet treat protectively. You replied by making a face, while you sat munching on your own bland cereal. "Oh, come on. Everyone likes waffles, Seikuu-san."

"Everyone but me, I guess." I replied, taking another slurp of my cereal. It actually tasted terrible, but I'd rather die than eat one of those sickening, vile, nasty things called waffles.

**POKE.**

Tobi's waffle was shoved into my mouth by none other than Tobi himself. He wore a triumphant grin as he removed his chopsticks from my mouth. After a minute of being in shock, I finally thawed out and exploded.

**"YOU IDIOT!! I COULD HAVE HAD A HEART ATTACK AND DIED! I COULD HAVE CHOKED ON THAT STUPID FORK! I COULD HAVE CONTRACTED A DISEASE FROM YOUR DISGUSTING SALIVA!!!! I'M GOING TO **_KILL_** YOU!!!"** I shrieked at the top of my lungs, preparing myself to jump and attack Tobi. He looked absolutely terrified. But I didn't blame him. I was ready to rip off his head, chop it into pieces, pour cooking oil over it, and boil it in the dark greasy depths of-

"Hey, what's going on here, un?" A voice said from behind me. I fell anime-style and Tobi leaped up from his chair, running out of my line of vision to where the voice had come from.

"Damn...So close." I muttered, grasping the thin air where Tobi's neck would have been, had I had caught him.

"Deidara-senpai!! It's great to see you again!" I looked up from my misery to see a blonde man being cuddled by Tobi, whom was all too happy to see him.

"Shut up, Tobi. And get off me." Deidara snapped, pushing Tobi away from him. He gave Tobi a glare, almost comparable to mine. Deidara sighed and looked around the headquarters, seeing me, finally. "Are you Seikuu-chan, un?"

"Um...Yes, I'm Seikuu." I replied lamely. The 'chan' part kind of caught me by surprise. Nobody had ever addressed me so informally before. I mainly found it weird because I had just met the guy.

"Right. I'm Deidara. I hope Tobi here didn't make you want to commit suicide, un." Deidara apologized rolling his eyes at Tobi's frequent ranting about something pointless, which we were both ignoring. Well, at least Deidara _sounded_ serious about this.

"Actually, I was more focused on killing _him_. Trying to make me eat waffles..._Dis-gus-ting_." I spat, putting extra emphasis on every syllable. No wonder they never gave me waffles back in the Sand Village. They were nasty.

"You don't like waffles, un?" Deidara asked, apparently shocked.

"OH KAMI-SAMA, MAKE IT STOP." I cried, clutching my head and crouching down in defense. No way in hell would they make me eat another one of those things. I wouldn't be able to take it. Plus, half of my conversations this morning had been about waffles. I had to admit...that was a little...weird.

"Just asking, un." Deidara nervously laughed, taking a careful step away from me. He turned to Tobi and immediately wore a placid expression. I now knew I liked this Deidara person. He hated Tobi as much as I did, which was really hard to believe. "Listen, Tobi. Leader-sama told me come and help out with your training. I can't tell you what it is until later, un."

"Why later?" I asked, recovering quickly from my moping at the word 'training.'

"You'll find out eventually." Deidara stated simply. He gave me another weary glance before asking me yet another pointless, waffle-centered question

"Are you sure you don't like waffles, un?"

"AGHHHH!!"

* * *

**Yes, this is sadly the end of Chapter 1. Not very long, but I guess it's okay. : )**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Hope you liked it.**

**With LURV, OrangexSwirlz**


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto. But I would probably strangle myself to death in joy if I did. :)

Dedicated to: Jennifer. Because she's just cool like that.

* * *

"So...This is where we're...training?'" I asked my multi-colored senpai, Zetsu, tilting my head to the side. We were in the middle of the lake outside of the base. I really only wondered why we were on the lake because there weren't any obstacles or ways to set up practice dummies.

"Not exactly, Seikuu." Zetsu's nicer side replied, grinning a twisted smile. "You see, your 'training' is a bit different than what you would expect. Leader-sama believes you don't seem to get along well with Tobi here, and that you really need to prove you're up to working with us. Tobi included"

"Tobi is a good boy. Tobi likes Seikuu-san. But Seikuu-san hates Tobi." Tobi agreed, nodding his head. I folded me arms, sending a death glare over at him in response.

"Listen, I'm going to place you in another country. You won't know where you are, but I expect you to find your way back successfully within three days. You won't be more than 700 miles away, to make it a bit simpler. You _both_ have to get back alive." Zetsu's light side emphasized, staring directly at me. Then his darker side spoke. "Understand? Killing Tobi isn't an option."

"If you say so, Zetsu-san." I answered, shrugging off the nagging feeling of wanting to punch something very hard to the back of my very violent mind.

"But-But Tobi is...Afraid of being left alone with...Seikuu-san..." Tobi innocently muttered, acting very timid and edging carefully away from me. I shrugged it off. Tobi was way too happy and polite to want to join a group such as the Akatsuki. I really had to think about his motives for joining such an infamous group.

"That's the point of this exercise, Tobi. So you _won't_ be afraid of her." Zetsu's nice side persisted. He seemed a little more impatient to get us out of the way now that we'd asked so many questions.

"Now, I'll see you two later."

Before I had time to react, everything went black.

"Seikuu! Seikuu-san!!" Tobi's voice sang. It was faint, but I could hear him. Something pointy was poking my face, and I swatted it away. I opened my eyes and found Tobi leaning over me, orange swirly mask and all. "Yay! I got you to wake up!"

"Yeah..." I sighed angrily, standing up and observing the surroundings. Tobi and I were in a vast, open plain of hard rock and dirt, basically. Nothing around but brown. "Well, we're in one of two places. Suna, or Iwa. I'm guessing Suna, but Zetsu-san wouldn't have put me in the country I had come from. What do you think, Tobi-san?"

I turned to face where I thought Tobi was, but there was no one in sight. I was about to call out his name, but I didn't have to.

"Seikuu-san!! Look what I found!'

Yup, Tobi had found a rock. But oh no, it wasn't just a rock...

It was a _shiny_ rock.

"Look! I've never seen anything like it before! When I hold it up to the sun..." Tobi trailed off, jumping around and spazzing every time the rock reflected the bright sunlight somewhere. I didn't really find it all that interesting, so...I decided to get rid of it.

"Tobi. Let me see it." I said imperatively. It wasn't a question. I glared at Tobi in way I knew he would understand. He nodded slowly and handed me the shiny rock. I held it out in the palm of my hand, and gave it a long, hard stare. Then, with a quick, miniscule puff of smoke, it had vanished.

"WOAH!! That was AMAZING!!" Tobi cried, jumping up and down again. Sighing, I just gave up at trying to make him miserable. Whatever I did seemed to affect him in a good way anyway. Then I began to feel the after effects of my jutsu. I struggled to hold myself up and silently cursed. I thought I had finally gotten it under control.

"Seikuu-san? Are you okay?" Tobi asked after a moment of silence. I struggled to hold my eyes open.

"Yeah, I...think so..." I replied unsteadily. I staggered a moment, thinking that I shouldn't have even tried.

My jutsu is sort of like a bloodline limit. The workers from the place they kept me in said I had some kind of DNA mutation that had never occurred in anyone before. I guess that's where my jutsu comes from. The only thing is, is that it drains my chakra very quickly. I thought I had mastered it, practicing so much. I guess not.

I began to stand upright again, but I guess my body had had it.

The last thing I saw was Tobi's bright orange mask.

When I came to, the last thing I wanted to do was to get out of bed. It was so nice, warm, comfortable...And it smelled good.

Wait a second...Bed?

My eyes shot open and I found myself in a dimly lit room. Tobi was sitting in a chair across the room with his hands folded across his lap. His chair was angled at me, and his body was slouched forward lazily. Looking out the window, I saw it was nighttime. I guess that's why it was so dark.

"Tobi?" I asked, sitting up slowly. He didn't seem to notice I was awake. "Tobi? Hellooo? Where are we?"

Then I heard a faint grunt and something that sounded like snoring. He must have been asleep. I pushed the covers off of me and stood up; looking around what looked like a cheap hotel room. And there, on the nightstand was a card.

I tilted my head and picked it up. The cover read "Get Well Soon." Flipping it open, there was a short note from Tobi.

_Dear Seikuu-san,_

_Sorry for bothering you so much. I hope you wake up soon so we can get back to the headquarters. _

_Tobi_

I closed the card, and a small smile found itself on my lips for the first time in quite a while. Tobi was such an idiot. I wasn't even sick. He just bought me a card and carried me here...What a weirdo. Maybe that was why I hated him so much. He'll be kind to someone as terrible and brutal as me. No, I don't even think it was that.

I think it was because this was the first time someone showed that they actually cared what happened to me. Hey, it was just a card, but he wouldn't have bought it if he didn't mean it. And that's also what bothered me.

"What an idiot." I mumbled to myself, putting the card back on the table. Glancing over at Tobi, I saw him grumbling something incoherent, and shifting in the chair.

I smiled again.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of a monotone alarm filling my ears.

"Nnn...Only five more minutes..." I heard a voice mumble. I felt some shifting on the bed, and then something warm snake around my waist. It felt kind of like an arm...Whoa, wait...ARM?!

"AGHH!!" I screeched, rolling of the side of the bed and hitting my head on the nightstand. But that pain didn't matter at the moment. I quickly hopped back up and took a fighting stance. "I'll give you 10 seconds to run. 10, 9, 8, 7-"

"Seikuu-san, uh..." The lump under the covers shifted, and I found none other than...

"TOBI?!" I yelled furiously, lunging for the boy and pinning him to the bed, my hands around his neck. "What. did. you. do. to. me?!"

"Nothing!! Tobi is a good boy! Tobi would never take advantage of a teammate!!" Tobi wailed, waving his hands frantically, not even struggling to get out of my death-grip. I lowered my face mere inches from his, and hissed, "For my sake, not yours..." before releasing him and hopping off the bed. Looking down at myself to make sure Tobi was telling the truth, I saw no change in anything I was wearing. My kimono-shirt was perfectly tied, and my shorts were still on. Shoes too. Well, I guess I could trust Tobi for now. Well, more I i _had_ /i to, really.

"Hurry and get your mask on so we can go..." I muttered, folding my arms and tapping my foot as Tobi lazily got out of bed. Tobi grunted in response and shoved on his orange mask, running his fingers through his hair before nodding to say he was ready to go.

I stepped out of the hotel to find that we were in a large town, with huge stone buildings and few trees. I thought quickly about what we should do. How would we figure out where we were?

"Tobi-san, do you have any idea where we are?" I asked him. If he had brought me here, surely he would have asked someone.

"We are on Nagi Island, just south of Kirigakure." Tobi replied smartly. Well, I guess I do have to give him credit. He tries, at least.

"Are you kidding me?!" I shouted angrily, causing a group of people to look my way. We would be lucky to make it back to the River Country within a week, much less...four days was it we have now? "This is impossible!! What was Zetsu-san thinking?! We have to leave _now_, Tobi-san!!!"

"Uhh...Seikuu-san?" Tobi meekly asked in a soft voice.

"What?" I snapped, turning around only to find what he was talking about. A whole line of shinobi was in fighting stance standing right behind me and Tobi. "Oh, hell no."

"You are the subject 'Seikuu' of Sunagakure, correct?" One of the shinobi asked gruffly, stepping forward from the rest of the group. No doubt he was the leader.

"'Subject'? I'm offended." I replied with no intention of giving them an answer. Although, that basically gave me away anyway.

"Heh. Let's just say that this won't be the best day of your life." The leader chuckled, holding up an array of projectile weapons. The other six shinobi with him did the same.

"Uh, Seikuu-san, shouldn't we run now?" Tobi whispered, hiding behind me in fear.

"On the count of three. One...two..."

"Attack!!" The leader shouted.

"THREE!!!"

Before I knew it, Tobi and I had sprinted right in between the unsuspecting shinobi, dodging kunai and shuriken that were coming from all directions. I was pretty sure that we were dead, but somehow all of the weapons managed to barely miss us. Yet the whole time, I had this kind of rush of excitement. Either it was the fact that we could die at any second, or that Tobi's thinly-gloved hand held mine the entire time...Ha, but that couldn't be it, could it?

After endless running and one nasty confrontation, Tobi and I had managed to escape with merely a few scratches and a couple of bruises, and we had made it to a port city, that was a bonus. The only way back to the River Country was over the ocean. But we would definitely need to buy and pack some thing to eat before we left. And fast.

"Hey, Tobi-san..." I started, turning to him. Turns out that he had collapsed onto the ground in defeat, and was panting quickly. He must've been worn out from me practically dragging him for around 20 kilometers.

"Tobi...Tobi needs...water." He gasped, crawling up to me and clinging on to my leg. I felt my face heat up and I quickly shook Tobi off, scowling the whole time through. I wordlessly pulled out a mini-water bottle out from my scroll pouch and threw it at Tobi, whom caught it and gulped down the whole thing in 5 seconds. "Ahh...Tobi's okay now!"

"Great..._Now_ can we get supplies?" I grumbled, folding my arms and staring down at Tobi. He nodded and stood up, dusting himself off before looking around for a shop.

"Oooh! Seikuu-san, what about that one?" Tobi asked excitedly, jumping up and down and pulling me over to a candy store.

"No." I replied curtly, sending out immense hate-waves at the store. I had some baaad memories of candy from staying at that research facility. They would give it to me every time I made something disappear, and eventually the candy made me so hyper I erased the whole group of people working there. They were...extremely afraid of me after that.

"Haha! Seikuu-san, look!" Tobi's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked up to find him holding a huge, swirly lollipop. "Can I have it? Please, please, please?"

"Ehhh, Sure...If it'll shut you up." I muttered, pulling out the money it took to buy the lollipop and handing it to Tobi. He squealed in delight and ran up to the counter, picking up something else I couldn't see on the way. He came back happily stuffing his lollipop in his weapons' pouch, holding a box of Pocky out to me. I raised an eyebrow.

"What's this for?" I asked hesitantly, poking the red box suspiciously.

"It's to eat!! I thought you looked kind of hungry..." Tobi replied, eyeing my stomach. Almost as if it had heard him, my stomach let out a loud growl.

"Umm...Thanks." I muttered, snatching the Pocky and opening it, shoving a whole stick in my mouth hungrily. "Well..." I painfully swallowed. "I think some real food would be more useful...Let's just grab a whole thing of onigiri and get out of here before more of those other shinobi show up."

"Tobi will get them! He's a good boy, he won't spend all of Seikuu-san's money." Tobi piped up, bowing in respect before walking in a nearby shop. I didn't protest and just watched him go inside. It almost made me laugh, watching him try to converse with the cashier, whom had a terrible accent. I could barely understand the guy myself. Tobi then finally just handed the guy a bill, and the cashier handed him back change. It almost seemed like Tobi was mad for a minute there. That was a little...weird to imagine.

"Seikuu-san? Why are you smiling?" Tobi asked slowly, backing up a step.

"Huh?" I asked. I had been smiling? "..Oh. Well, what's the problem? You've never seen a person smile before?"

"No, it's just...I've never seen _you_ smile before, Seikuu-san..." Tobi murmured, poking his fingers together nervously.

"And what's wrong with that?" I asked defensively. I could feel my sanity slipping away. Why did my face keep heating up? Why was my heart going crazy? There was definitely something wrong with me.

"Nothing...Tobi just thinks Seikuu-san is pretty when she smiles..." Tobi practically whispered. I felt the blood drain from my face.

"Wh-Why would you...Nevermind. L-let's just...get going." I quickly snapped, grabbing the bag of onigiri Tobi was holding and shoving it in my pouch, which now looked on the verge of bursting at the seams. Hopefully it'd last the rest of the trip.

"Hai." Tobi said, staring at me a moment timidly before turning towards the ocean, which we would have to travel across. It was a stretch from here. Because, apparently the shinobi villages had been warned about my...eh...escape, so there was definitely no possibility of getting a ship. We'd have to run 200 miles over the ocean until we reached land. It would take two days to get to the River Country. I inwardly groaned at the thought.

"Okay, let's get out of here..." I mumbled, stepping onto the water and immediately using my chakra to myself out of the water. Tobi did the same, and eventually, we were at the point where there was nothing else in sight but the ocean, and all of the boats were behind us. By this point, it was practically nighttime. I was getting tired, but I couldn't let that slow me down. I was going to run all night, no matter what.

"S-Seikuu-san...Tobi is tired..." Tobi gasped, slowing down a bit.

"Get over it." I replied, not even bothering to look back at him.

"But...I'm hungry and my feet hurt!!" Tobi whined again. Man, was he _trying_ to get on my nerves? I abruptly stopped and on impulse, Tobi did too.

"Look at my face." I instructed, pointing at my nose with a blank expression. Tobi tilted his head in confusion. "Does it look like I care?"

"Ummm...No?" Tobi answered in fear of being beaten severely. I would never do that in such a situation, but the thought sounded really good at the moment...

"Good. Let's keep going." I snapped, turning back to the extremely distant horizon. This...was definitely going to take a while.

"Oh...We...finally...made it." I huffed, practically hyperventilating as Tobi and I slowly trudged up to shore. It had been another day and a half of running. Lucky me, Tobi had kept his mouth shut the whole time and I could gripe to myself in peace.

"Tobi doesn't feel so good." Tobi murmured, bending over and holding his stomach. I backed up a step uneasily. Truthfully, I felt terrible too, but that was mainly because I lived off of rice balls and ran like my life depended on it for two days straight. Across water, nonetheless.

"Yeah, well, neither does Seikuu." I grumbled back, grabbing Tobi's collar and pulling him up to a standing position, ignoring the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. If we didn't get rest soon, I probably would get sick anyway. "Come on, we have to keep going. We only have a few hours left."

"Right...Sorry..." Tobi responded hoarsely, staggering after me as we began to run again. I couldn't take much more of this. Placing us so far off...It was like he expected us to fail...Ha, but that would be kind of pointless, wouldn't it?

"So, do you know the exact location of the Headquarters, Tobi? I didn't pay much attention on the way there the first time, so I really have no idea where it is..." I asked. Yeah, I had kind of started running without thinking. My fatigue was definitely catching up with me.

"Uhh, I think it's towards the center. An hour or two and we're there." Tobi replied. I think if he had been feeling better, his tone would have sounded a bit more happier rather than like he was gargling some kind of really nasty mouthwash. And just like that, Tobi was on the ground, and soon after there was vomit _inside_ his mask. Of course, this really helped me feel better. I ended up vomiting too.

"Ugh...Lovely." I groaned, wiping the corners of my mouth with distaste. Tobi hadn't gotten up from the ground and was almost whimpering as he took of his mask and practically threw up again at the sight of it. I personally felt sorry for him. Sure, a mask covered your identity and looked really cool, but the fact the any bodily function of the face that happens goes into that mask makes the decision questionable.

"I told you I didn't feel good." Tobi muttered, falling over in defeat.

"Hey, get up." I nudged Tobi with my foot. Turns out, he had fainted. "Great...You're just trying to make this hard, aren't you...?"

After five minutes of endless heaving, I finally managed to get Tobi's unbelievably heavy carcass on my back, with his arms dangling over my shoulders and his maskless face was softly pressing against my cheek.

"Geez...What's wrong with me...?" I murmured, failing terribly at suppressing the dark blush that crossed my face.

* * *

"To...Tobi...G-Get up..." I muttered, shaking Tobi's fainted form on the ground roughly. After carrying him around 25 miles, I was definitely slipping in my ability to go on. Plus, Tobi was a lot heavier than I had thought he would be. I guess that was just a bonus.

"Nnn..." Tobi groaned, rolling over onto his back to look up at me. "I'm sorry you had to carry me so far...I think..." Tobi shakily stood up. "..that I'm okay now..."

"It's about time..." I muttered in response, falling forward onto the ground and resting my head against the cool grass. I was absolutely wiped out. "I think that the base is somewhere around here. I wasn't too sure because you wouldn't wake up so I could ask you."

"Tobi is sorry..." Tobi muttered, rubbing his eyes and holding out a hand for me to take. My vision blurred in and out of focus, and I thought that for a second that I was going to faint too. I shook my head and took Tobi's hand, collapsing before I got all the way up. Tobi caught me and nearly fell himself, but steadied out and held me tightly close to him. I blushed heavily and shakily looked up at Tobi. There was a long silence where we just stared, and my head started spinning.

"Seikuu-san..." I heard Tobi say softly. "Y-You found it..."

"Wh-Huh?' I asked, stumbling as I stood all the way up, even more clumsily than before.

"The base! It's right here..." Tobi replied, putting his hand on a large rock. The rock suddenly twisted to form a cave-ish type entrance where I remember walking through to get to the door that led into the main room of the Akatsuki headquarters. Deidara trudged out, muttering something about 'not wanting to go', and then he saw us.

"Tobi, Seikuu-chan! Geez, talk about timing..." Deidara grumbled, stopping a moment of scowling to raise an eyebrow at me, and then Tobi. "Why are you two so pale, un?"

"Huh? We're not pale!! This is our natural skin color..." Tobi began, folding his arms.

And that instant, I fell to the ground on my side, my vision blurring to the point where I could barely see, and my face breaking into a cold sweat. I shivered slightly and curled up, feeling terrible and cold all of a sudden.

"Seikuu-san?!" Tobi cried, kneeling down to get a closer look at me.

"I told you she looked pale..." Deidara muttered, kneeling down also. I felt his hand on my forehead, and it was like ice to my burning forehead. I groaned and clutched my stomach, feeling as worse as I ever had before. "Yeah, she has a high fever, un. Tobi, pick her up and bring her inside."

"But-" Tobi began, afraid I would get mad. But I couldn't exactly say much or see too well at the moment.

"_Now_, Tobi." Deidara sighed, turning towards the entrance to the base and walking in without waiting for me or Tobi.

"You wouldn't mind, right?" Tobi asked slowly and carefully, poking my cheek. I angrily swatted it away and mumbled a "Yes." in response, before he effortlessly scooped me up and followed after Deidara, too prancey-dancey for my liking. I was already sick at my stomach, and his skip-walking didn't help much.

"Sit her on the couch, un." Deidara said, pulling out a thermometer from the bathroom and bringing it over to me once Tobi had sat me down, plopping down in the chair next to mine. He handed me the thermometer to put in my mouth, and a minute later, I pulled it out, practically falling off the couch. 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeah, I was definitely sick. Deidara sighed and took the thermometer from me, taking it to the sink and throwing it in for someone else to wash.

"Listen, un. I have to leave on a mission with Sasori-danna, so I can't help you two for now. I should be back in a few days. Tobi, give Seikuu-chan some pain killers and a glass of water, and make sure her fever doesn't get any higher." Deidara instructed, putting on his Akatsuki hat and stepping out the door before either me or Tobi had any time to respond. There was a small silence, and Tobi hopped up, walking to the bathroom and grabbing the bottle of pain killers Deidara had suggested and filled a glass full of tap water, not saying a word the whole time.

"Here." He said, holding the glass for me to take, which I did. He then opened the top of the bottle of painkillers and paused a moment, his eyes widening and his face paling to an extremely pasty white.

"Tobi?" I asked quietly, sitting up with concern.

"UGGGGGHHH!!!!" He groaned, dropping the entire bottle of pills, causing them to spill all over the floor as he ran to the bathroom. I heard a sickening splattering noise, and then I felt that water I had just drank starting to bubble to the surface...

Immediately, I bolted to the bathroom after Tobi, but slipped on the pills he had spilled all over the floor, and the throw up came soon after.

"Seikuu-chan...!" Tobi muttered, evidently obligated to help me on Deidara's orders. He stood up, but then clutched at his mouth and hurled in the sink on his way out, unable to hold it back short enough to help me. I struggled to get up, but stumbled on more of the pills and fell face first onto the ground, one of the many pills sticking to my face as I lifted my head up. This was _definitely_ going to be a long week.

Around three days later, Tobi and I were still absolutely miserable. No one was there to take care of us, so I was forced to try and clean up all of our puke that didn't make it to the toilet, trash can, or sink. And that was an unbelievable amount. After the first day by ourselves, I had just completely given up.

And Tobi? Well, he was just about as useless as I was. The only thing he got out of bed for was to throw up somewhere, or to eat when he couldn't take the hunger any more. I rarely saw him come out of his room that he shared with Zetsu when they both were here. I, luckily, didn't have to share a room with anyone, so I got to lay in nauseating agony in peace. I only prayed for the time that Deidara would be back to save Tobi and I from this dark abyss.

It was only four in the morning, and I had barely slept through the night. I hadn't seen Tobi in a while, so I was pretty worried about him. After around five more minutes of just laying there, I heard a familiar voice, probably just outside of the hideout's walls. Then another voice responded, and I heard the door open.

"DEAR GOD."

Yup. Good old Deidara was finally back.

* * *

A/N: Welp, that's all for now. :) Hope it was worth the wait!! I'm going to put up the rest of the story right now, just to get it out for everyone. Sorry it took me so long!

Love, OxS


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey peeps. :) This is the next chapter of WAiL, as you can see. I'm glad I could get this up so fast. Hope you enjoy it!!**

* * *

"Seikuu, get up." A deep voice indifferently called through my door, knocking roughly before abruptly stopping. 

"Hai, Sasori-senpai." I called drowsily, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. Yeah, it took about a week, but Tobi and I were finally better, although I was still feeling some after effects. I got dizzy every now and then, and my vision would blur in and out of focus occasionally.

After stretching a minute or two, I got out of bed slowly and threw on my outfit, yawning widely and stepping out of my room to find Deidara sitting on the couch, reading some kind of book, and Sasori writing something down. However, Tobi was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Tobi?" I asked, hands on my hips as I looked around the room for any sort of trace that he had been there.

"He's still sleeping." Sasori responded tonelessly, barely glancing back at me before writing some more on the piece of paper in front of him.

"Then...why did you wake me up?" I asked again, tilting my head questioningly with my eyebrow raised disapprovingly. I needed my sleep way more than Tobi did.

"So you can go buy us food." Sasori responded, handing me the paper he had been writing on. I looked at it closely, and noticed it was a list of groceries I needed to buy.

"Right..." I said, folding up the paper and putting it in my pocket. I learned after the time he spent here, that it was best not to mess with Sasori. The only person who really did was Deidara, but they only argue about art, or something along the lines of that. I didn't even bother to listen half the time. "I'll be back soon."

I stepped outside of the headquarters, and the large illusionary boulder that covered the entrance reappeared. Lucky me, the Akatsuki HQ was located less than a mile away from a small village, where we bought most of our supplies.

When I got there, there weren't as many people as usual, and the only ones that were there were giving me either looks of scorn, or looks of fear. I mentally shrugged it off and bought the groceries. At least the shopkeeper I usually bought from didn't seem so uptight. I struggled a bit with the large brown bag of groceries, but eventually balanced them comfortably on my hip. I was about halfway back when I noticed why everyone was eyeballing me. There was a wanted poster on the main announcements board of the village, and it was a picture of a girl. A wanted poster of me.

I practically dropped my bag. I needed to get out of here. And fast. I held the groceries tight to my body, and I began to make a mad dash away from the villagers, my head turned back to make sure I wasn't being followed. I turned back to face the front, and stopped dead. A squad of Sunagakure ANBU was in my path, about 5 or 6 of them.

"Seikuu, you're to come with us by order of the Kazekage." One of them spoke out, stepping forward.

"What if I don't want to come?" I asked cautiously, backing up a small step away.

"Then we were ordered to bring you back with force."

I set my gaze at the ANBU that I had conversed with, and my rock hard gaze froze him in place only a moment before the flesh of his arm vanished into thin air, the blood spurted out in large quantities. He let out a shout of pain and surprise before the other ANBU realized what was going on. There was a moment of shock and fear that tensed the atmosphere, but, as the trained shinobi they were, all advanced on me during the next second. I dropped the bag I was carrying, and the contents sprawled out onto the ground as I readied myself in a defensive stance.

There was no time to lose. I was in trouble. I focused all of my chakra into the use of my Fukikesu, and the ANBU, and burned my gaze into the arm of one of the ANBU Black Ops. In the next few seconds that followed, there were screams of pain, and howls that simply begged for mercy as I erased countless arms and legs. As a result, I tried to stay away from vital points, but that of course, made them still able to fight and still able to come after me. This wasn't good. I was actually showing remorse towards them. How would Akatsuki members usually handle this? They'd be ruthless and cold, enjoying the screams, unlike me. But I was being bothered by them. How could I ignore them?

I clamped my hands over my ears, trying to block out the bloodcurdling shrieks I was causing as I erased more arms and legs. I blinked several times, trying to calm myself, erasing another leg. Oh, god, NO. My blinking just erased an eyeball!!! Ugh, nasty!! Quickly, I blotted out the rest of the ANBU's face, not wanting to see the flesh of the eye socket that was the result of my ability.

While I was absorbed with defending myself from the ANBU Black Ops in front of me, I didn't realize that covering my ears would be such a disadvantage. I failed to notice the footsteps that approached from behind. There was a ripping sound, and it didn't take long for me to realize that an ANBU had snuck up from behind, tore of a piece of his sleeve, and blindfolded me. My eyes ached, trying to take in the darkness. The next few seconds that followed were a blur. A searing pain jerked at my stomach, obviously the work of a fist, and I passed out, my mind going numb from the pain.

* * *

"Let me out. I need to use the bathroom." 

"We're not allowed to permit you to do that, Seikuu. You are to be securely watched in this facility by order of the Kazekage."

"Hell with the Kazekage. So I can just go on the floor then?"

"Under the circumstances...That's what you'll have to do."

"...Lovely."

They had taken me all the way back to Suna. They had put me back in that stupid research facility. It's been one day. I haven't been fed. No one has come into this room.

Why?

I killed the first person who did come in. That explains itself.

The only real thing that bothered me was that no one had come after me. Not Tobi, not Deidara...

_Not anyone._

Another hour passed, and I had been unable to hold in my rage. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I crouched in the corner of the empty room, glaring with intense animosity at the door. The next person who came in was dead. I didn't care if they were here to let me out, or here to give me food, water, or whatever. They were _dead._

"Seikuu, we're now permitted to let you use our facilities." A voice said from behind the door. I trembled in rage, a single tear escaping the pool in my eye. The door creaked open, and the light was too bright for me to be able to see who it was. But I didn't care. My Fukikesu locked anyone I made eye contact with, and wished to kill, freeze out of fear. And evidently, this guy had taken the hint. I didn't have to watch anymore. There was no cry of agony, or squelching noise. He was gone. Although, the cry of agony might have soothed me, maybe a tiny bit. The door quickly shut.

But I wasn't satisfied. I didn't care if I died of hunger in here; at least someone will have died with me.

And all of a sudden, a large explosion shook the building, and the roof of my room, along with wall connecting to the others crumbled away. I covered my head and used my Fukikesu to erase whatever I could that might have fallen on me, and quickly looked up when all of the debris had landed, only for the sun to be blocked out of my view by a larger object.

"Get Seikuu-chan, un!"

I froze. That couldn't have been _Deidara_. But who else said "Un!" like he did? I didn't know.

"Grab her quickly, Tobi!"

"Hai, Deidara-senpai!"

My heart stopped.

"Seikuu-chan, take my hand!!"

It was Tobi, bending over the side of Deidara's large, clay bird with his hand outstretched towards me. I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.

"Seikuu-chan, hurry!"

I felt as if everything that happened in that one second was all in slow motion. I slowly stood up, the tears streaking down my cheeks as I did so, my head still facing upward at Tobi with clear incredulity in my expression. Just as his hand grasped mine, a whole new squad of ANBU made their way quickly through the rubble, and Tobi lurched me up onto Deidara's clay bird, it quickly taking off. The ruins of the research facility slowly went out of view, and that was when I realized I was silently sobbing, and that I hadn't let go of Tobi since we had taken off.

"Seikuu-chan, it's okay..." Tobi murmured. I could tell he was afraid I would explode if he said the wrong thing. But I didn't care about that. I threw my arms around him and trembled with the sobs that still shook my body, and for that one moment, when Tobi wrapped his own arms around me, I felt as if someone actually really wanted, maybe even **needed** me.

But that really only made me cry even harder.

* * *

After we had gotten back to the headquarters, I had stayed holed up inside my room, refusing to come out, and only accepting someone who had food. But that was mostly Tobi. 

Oh joy.

Still, I couldn't help but come out eventually.

It was pretty early in the morning. 6 a.m. exactly, according to my alarm clock. I hesitated a moment before walking across the room to the door, turning the knob and opening it only to find Tobi sitting on the floor in front me, facing where my door would have been closed, hugging his knees.

"Uh...Tobi? What are you doing?" I asked skeptically, wondering why in the world he'd be sitting in front of my door this early in the morning. After a few moments of silence, I nudged him with my foot, and he grunted and pushed it away, resuming his former position. "Tobi...Tooobiiiii...TOBI!"

"AH! WHAT?!" He cried, falling backwards onto his back. Well, I definitely knew he was awake now.

"What were...What were you doing?" I asked cautiously, wondering if I should even be talking to him, seeing as he had been sleeping outside of my room...

"Seikuu-chan, you seem depressed!" Tobi bluntly announced. A bead of sweat dripped from my forehead as I rolled my eyes.

"Just forget it, Tobi. Don't worry yourself with things that shouldn't be worried about." I sighed, feeling a bit too exasperated to be irritated with hyperactive Tobi.

"Um...okay..." Tobi replied, probably thinking I looked more depressed than I had before. He gave me once last fleeting glance before walking down the hallway next to us.

I turned to the kitchen wordlessly and looked through a few cabinets, before realizing that I had been the last person to go attempt to get groceries. I cursed Sasori for making me go in the first place and turned to the fridge, finding a package of Edamame (Soybeans) that didn't look too bad. I took them out and placed them in the microwave, folding my arms as I waited.

"Seikuu-chan!!! Should I get the clothes out of the drier?" I heard Tobi call.

"I don't care!" I called back, drumming my fingers on the counter impatiently. As I waited, I could have sworn that I was starting to have double vision, seeing as there were six fridges spiraling across my field of view. I shook my head vigorously in hopes of ridding the double vision. Luckily, it worked and I was seeing perfectly once again. Normally, I would have freaked out about something like that. But back in Suna, that had happened to me more than enough times. It usually only lasted a little while anyway.

When the timer went off, I took out the Edamame and quickly blew on it, so hungry I just went ahead a picked one up, opening the shell and popping the bean into my mouth, wincing a bit at the temperature.

"Hey, Seikuu-chan!!!" Tobi called yet again, but I heard his footsteps coming towards me. "What should I do with this?"

"With what?" I asked, popping another hot bean into my mouth. Tobi poked his head out from around the corner, and then hanging from his hand. It was my bra.

I stared a moment, just blinking emotionlessly, and then spazzed out and dropped the Edamame beans all over the ground, running over and grabbing the bra out of Tobi's hands. I angrily threw it into my room, slamming the door behind it as it fell to the ground.

"You. Will never. Do. The Laundry. Again!!!!" I snarled, poking Tobi's chest hard with every emphasized word, my face as red as his Sharingan eye.

"Yes ma'am!" He whimpered, covering his head in fear. I glared down at him a moment before pointing the door.

"Go buy me more Edamame." I ordered sternly, my eyes hard with finality. I handed Tobi the money I thought it would take to buy the soybeans, and he made a mad dash for the door.

"I'm sorry, Seikuu-chan!!!!" I heard Tobi yelp one last time. I shook my head and let out a sigh, looking for something else I might have been able to eat. Then I heard a door open and shut, and then Leader-sama appeared from the hallway, wearing a quizzical look on his face,

"What was that?" He demanded irritably, looking around for something that could have caused a noise.

"It was Tobi, Leader-sama." I responded bluntly, bowing. It was one of the many things Tobi told me about the Akatsuki. Don't upset the Leader. Ever. Unless you were looking for a long, slow, and painful death. Which is the main reason I didn't tell him I had anything to do with the noise.

"Oh, right. Well, don't let it happen again. I'm very busy." Leader snapped. I kept my head down in a bow until I heard his door close, and then slowly looked up, making sure he was gone. I let out a breath and stood up straight again. I had only talked to Leader once before head on, and I felt very intimidated. He was very straightforward, though. It had been directly after Deidara and Tobi had gotten me back from Suna, and I had never met a person as frightening as he was.

After picking up all of the dropped Edamame and throwing them away, I turned back towards my room, until a woman with short blue hair exited the door that Leader-sama had just gone through. I noticed she was wearing an Akatsuki cloak, and I immediately bent over in another bow out of instinct.

"Hello, my name is Seikuu. Please tell me if there is anything you would like done." I introduced, keeping my head down respectfully. I heard a light chuckle and looked up, seeing a small smirk on the woman's face.

"Please, stand up." She said a bit forcefully, the smirk fading a bit as I fully stood upright. I saw she wore a flower in her hair, and the fragrance drifted around her. She gave me a small bow in return. "Seikuu, you must be the one whom Deidara and Tobi had to go retrieve from Suna a few days ago, yes?"

"Yes, that's correct." I nodded, biting my lip at the sheer thought. I never wanted to think about that incident again. I was out. That was all that really mattered, right? I at least would like to think that.

"Right. Well, don't make such a hindrance of yourself. You're in debt to us twice now. Remember that." She sneered, brushing past me. I stood in shock a moment, turning to just blankly stare after Konan. I thought about slapping her, but then remembered that she _was_ right, after all. I had been saved by them twice now. I only wondered how in the world I could have made it up to them. I watched the woman exit the hideout before the door burst open again, and Tobi happily pranced up to me, holding up a box of Pop-Tarts.

"What are those for?" I asked suspiciously, examining the box. I had never seen a food like them before. What did 'Pop-Tart' mean, anyway?

"We eat them Seikuu-chan! Put them in the toaster-" Tobi happily exclaimed, gesturing to the white toaster sitting on the counter in the kitchen. "-and then they come out warm, and we eat them!! But there's only enough for each Akatsuki member to have a package each, or two Pop-Tarts, sadly..."

"Right..." I muttered, shaking my head and wondering what in the world was wrong with this guy. "Where are the Edamame?"

"Oh! I, um..." Tobi began, shying away from me. I sweat-dropped.

"You forgot, didn't you...?"

"Yep..."

The corner of my mouth twitched, and I began to advance on Tobi, but then I extended my index finger instead, pointing wordlessly at him before taking the Pop-Tarts that were for me and walking into my room, throwing them in my nightstand's drawer. I'd eat them later, I guess.

"Oh, Seikuu-chan, you met Konan-senpai, didn't you? The pretty, blue-haired lady that passed me on the way out?" Tobi asked suddenly, seeming like he was excited about something. But I shouldn't really have suspected anything, because he was always like that. I nodded in response, and Tobi giggled. "She went to get all of the members of Akatsuki because they're going to have a meeting! Apparently, Leader-sama wants the whole organization to gather!! Isn't that exciting? Everyone will be here again!"

"Everyone...?" I asked, the corner of my mouth quivering. Just the thought of a whole band of bloodthirsty rogue Missing Ninja all gathering together at one point in time actually scared me a bit. But if they were all as kind(ish) as Kisame-san, Zetsu-san, and Deidara-senpai, I really shouldn't have been worried. But for some reason, I was.

"Now you get to meet Kakuzu-san and Hidan-san! Haha! They're so much fun!" Tobi laughed, jumping up and down again. I just sighed.

"When will they be here?" I asked dreadfully, hoping it wouldn't be too soon. Just Tobi was enough to deal with. If Kakuzu and Hidan were like Tobi had said they were, "Fun." then I would have to hide myself in my room again, living off of the Pop-tarts until they left.

"Sometime later today!" Tobi replied.

"Greeeaaat..." I groaned, shaking my head exasperatedly. "Later today" was definitely way too soon.

* * *

**A/N: Aaaaand later today just happens to be when the next chapter will be out. :) Thanks for reading!**

**LOVE, OxS**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Here's that "Later Today" I promised. :) Glad I could get it out so soon! And I should be putting up another chapter tonight too, if you all are lucky. :)**

**Dedication: Still Jennifer. 'Cause she rocks. ♥**

* * *

After a few hours of facing Tobi's spastic running around the headquarters, I thought I was going to explode. Then he did something completely unexpected. If Leader-sama had seen what he had brought, then it would have been burned on the spot. I really wish that Leader-sama could have seen it.

"Um, Tobi?" I asked hesitantly, poking the black thing in his arms. It let out a low rumbling noise and I quickly withdrew my hand. "What is _that_?"

"It's a kitten!!" Tobi answered happily, scratching the kitten's ear and it happily purred in return.

"And...Why is it in here?" I asked again, folding my arms disapprovingly. Whatever this "kitten" thing was, it wasn't going to be here long. I would make sure of that.

"Well...I found her all alone by herself outside!! She looked so sad!" Tobi wailed, rubbing his masked cheek against the kitten, who purred contently yet again.

"'She'? You checked?" I subconsciously took a step back.

"Well, she has to have a name!" Tobi whined.

"And what would that be?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Muffin!" He proudly announced, holding out the kitten for me to take. I slowly put out a hand and took the small animal, pulling it towards myself until it hissed and latched itself onto my arm via claws. I let out a bloodcurdling scream and began to wave my arm frantically. The kitten's claws dragged through my skin and tore at my shirt's sleeve until Tobi finally managed to wrench it off, leaving my arm a nasty, bloody mess.

"Get rid of it." I stated forcefully after a long, painful silence.

"But she'll be all alone and she'll die!" Tobi wailed, snuggling the now complacent kitten against his mask's swirls.

"You don't know that for sure..." I grumbled, wincing as I wiped a small trickle of blood off of my arm, summoning some healing chakra to my hand to heal the rest up. Fortunately enough, they healed up quickly and only left little droplets of nearly dry blood speckled across my arm. Bad news, my kimono-shirt's sleeve was completely torn up.

Lucky me, Konan had decided to walk in at that moment, two more Akatsuki members trailing behind her. Tobi quickly stuffed the kitten into his shirt, knowing the consequence if he was found with it.

"It's very nice to meet you." I said in the same robotic tone I had used for Konan. "My name is Seikuu. Please notify me if there is something you'd like done."

"Hey, Konan-chan, why is this little **thing** standing here?" One of the men asked gruffly, laughing a bit. I looked up a bit and saw he had slicked-back silver hair, and a large red scythe. The other one was a bit taller and wore a mask that covered the bottom part of his face, so I couldn't really tell what he looked like.

"This, Hidan, is Seikuu." Konan answered, evidently not caring that this guy had called me a 'little thing.' I bit my tongue to prevent from snapping back and slowly stood back up to find Kakuzu sending me what seemed to be a glare.

"The little brat that Deidara and Tobi wasted valuable time to save?" Kakuzu asked, a hint of anger sprinkled in his tone. Geez, was _everyone_ going to hang me up on that? It's not my fault for being outside in the first place!!!

"Yes. Now, please, Pein wishes to see you." Konan snapped, turning on her heel towards the back room that I still had yet to go in. As soon as the door was shut, Tobi let out another wail and pulled me into a tight hug.

"I'm sorry they were so mean to you, Seikuu-chan!" His voice sounded right into my ear, and I could've sworn my eardrum had burst. I stood rooted the spot a moment, and there was a moment of silence. Until Tobi's kitten popped out of his shirt's collar and bit my nose.

"Get...it...off." I said quietly, too steamed over to be angry at this point. The kitten left four small holes in my nose as Tobi yanked it off. I summoned even more healing chakra to my hand and placing them over the wounds. "Please, Tobi, just get **rid** of it!!"

"What? But she so sweet...!" Tobi complained, nuzzling the kitten's face with his mask. It attempted to lick him.

"I'm not going through this again, Tobi." I said, holding up my index finger, showing that he had one more chance to throw out the black menace named Muffin. Tobi shrank down and held the kitten close to his mask defensively. "You will put out that kitten, or I'll do it myself."

"...N-No!" Tobi refused, taking a step back. "I won't let you hurt Muffin!"

"Just throw the damn thing out!!!" I shouted, lunging for Tobi before Muffin pounced out of his hands, causing me to collide headfirst with his chest. I collapsed down on top of him before quickly hopping up again, scrambling after the cat, a bit flustered from landing on Tobi. Muffin ran for the nearest open door; the one to Zetsu and Tobi's room. I ventured in quickly after her and did a nosedive, my hand grasping only the tip of her tail, Muffin slipping away underneath Tobi's bed.

"HEY!! SHUT THE HELL UP, WE'RE WORKING IN HERE!!" I heard Hidan's voice shout from the back room. I sweat dropped and stood back up, brushing myself off. Tobi then burst in the room after me, looking under and around every piece of furniture.

"What did you do with Muffin?" He demanded, walking up to me and puffing out his chest angrily. This, frankly, surprised me. Since when had he ever had the courage to stand up to me?

"I didn't do anything." I mumbled, shuffling my feet anxiously. Who knew Tobi was so scary when he was mad? I felt like a major hypocrite at this point. "She's under there." I pointed at the bed.

"I'm coming, Muffin-chan!!" Tobi cried, shoving his body under his bed as far as it would go. I heard a loud "Mew!!!" before a ball of fluff dashed out from under the bed, running out the door. I quickly spun around and ran after her, running down the hallway until Muffin escaped...into the back room. The back room where Pein, and the rest of the Akatsuki were having a meeting...

I froze. There was definitely _no_ good outcome to this situation...Unless...they killed Muffin by mistake! A mischievous grin spread across my face and I stood, waiting to hear some kind of reaction. Tobi then dashed out right beside me.

"Where is she now?" He panted, bending low to try and look for the kitten. I nodded my head in the direction of the back room. I was sure if I could have seen Tobi's face, he would have been extremely pale. He stood still a few moments, both of us just gazing at the door to the back room, and it was silent for a while. That is, until...

"OHMYGOD. WHAT IS THAT, UN?!?!" Looks like Muffin had found Deidara first.

"Kill the damn thing!!!" That sounded like Hidan, based on the shout I had heard earlier. There was a series of explosions that shook the headquarters, and some loud thuds before Hidan burst out of the back room, tailing Muffin with his scythe, wildly flailing it near her. To my disappointment, every slash he aimed for the ball of fur missed by a millimeter, but he did knock quiet a few things down on the way.

"No, don't hurt Muffin!!" Tobi cried, dashing after Hidan. I sweat-dropped at the sight of both of them. Deidara then walked up beside me, panting heavily with a scowl on his face.

"How did that thing get in, un?" He asked me angrily, as if it were somehow my fault.

"Tobi brought it." I stated, shaking my head.

"And you let him take it in here?" He asked again.

"Well, he kind of..." I began, but stopped at the look Deidara was giving me. That is, until Pein stormed into the room.

"Seikuu!" I winced at the ferocity in his tone. I wasn't getting out of this easily. "What's going on? How did that thing get in?"

I bit my lip a moment, knowing if I gave Tobi away to Pein, he would have serious consequences. Then again, if I said that _I_ had done it, I would be in even more trouble because I had already made a big deal out of myself in the first place.

Then my head started spinning. At first I figured it was because I was in such a mixed up situation that I was really confused, but then it got to the point where I could hardly stand up. I blinked hard a few times, and it still didn't get better.

"Seikuu, answer me!" Pein demanded, turning me around by the shoulder and giving me a long, hard stare. I shrank down a bit and took another quick moment to think, my world still spinning around me. I quickly shook it off, and luckily enough for me, it went away.

"Well, you see, Leader-sama, Tobi went out to get something from the store, and...I...forgot to close the door behind him. I guess the cat must have wandered in through the door, and I didn't notice." I lied meekly, fiddling with the hem of my kimono shirt. "I'm very sorry." I bowed low, and heard a grunt from Pein.

"Stand up." He commanded, and I did so. He gave me the coldest gaze possible, and then hit me across the face. My face went back with his hand, and slowly turned back to face Pein, standing firm, at least proud of myself for standing up for Tobi. At least HE wouldn't be mad at me. Then again, he never really was, until a few minutes ago. "Look, you do this _once_ more, and you will find yourself out in the open where everyone can see you, and you'll be taken right back to Suna. Unless you want that to happen, I suggest you stop making such a nuisance out of yourself."

"Yes, Leader-sama." I responded, bowing again. I would NEVER go back to Suna. I would do whatever it took NOT to go back, and Pein had just given me direct guidelines. I wouldn't be a nuisance again.

"Everyone else, back inside." Pein ordered, stepping into the back room. Deidara gave me a wary glance before doing so, Hidan following suit, having stopped beating up Tobi when I said **I** had let in the demon cat. Once the door was shut, there was an awkward silence in which Muffin let out a meow, and I sighed, walking up to the couch and sinking into its soft cushions.

"...Seikuu-chan...Why did you-?" Tobi began, but I cut him off.

"Just forget about it..." I sighed, closing my eyes and resting my head back, absent-mindedly rubbing the mark on my face where Pein had hit me. That had hurt more than I had thought. It was quiet another few moments, but before I knew it, Tobi had latched himself onto me in a bear hug, and I froze, having completely not expected it. "Wh-Wh-What are you doing?!"

"Seikuu-chan, thank you so much!!" Tobi replied happily, hugging me even tighter to where I could barely move at all. I writhed and twisted as best as I could, and FINALLY Tobi succumbed, releasing me to a few heavy breaths before I was able to fully respirate again. I took a moment to scan the room.

"Now...Where is that cat?" I muttered under my breath to where Tobi couldn't hear, craning my neck to try and see if the little fur ball was anywhere nearby so I could erase it without Tobi noticing.

"Meow!" I heard from nearby, and I immediately jumped up, dashing for the direction that the sound had come from, which happened to be Tobi's room.

"That's it!!" I announced, pointing for the small animal and flaring up my chakra, only to be caught by a protesting Tobi who grabbed my hand and turned me around. I ended up erasing half of Tobi's mask, revealing the Sharingan in his right eye. I, of course, had no idea what it was. Even though I had seen it before, I had never really thought to bring it up. Apparently Tobi had noticed the way I was looking at him and had turned his head, covering his eye and removing the other part of his mask.

"Tobi?" I asked cautiously. He hadn't yelped in shock when I had erased his mask, which really surprised me. Had he been expecting it?

"Don't hurt Muffin-chan..." He mumbled in response, walking over to the cat, his hand still covering his eye, and picking her up, and walking out the door. I inwardly wondered what that was about. I had never seen Tobi so serious before. Actually, I'd never really seen Tobi serious at all. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on.

"Tobi? Uhm...Are you...alright?" I asked dubiously as I stepped out of his room, not seeing him anywhere in sight.

Then it hit me all at once. A heavy weight pressed down onto my shoulders, and I staggered a bit as I took another step forward. At that moment, Tobi walked out of the bathroom, a new mask clad onto his hidden face. My vision started to become double, and I became extremely dizzy, the room spinning with several Tobi's thrown in.

"To..bi." Was the last thing I could mutter before falling to the ground, completely unconscious.

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**A/N: Sadly, that's all for now. I'm about halfway through the next chapter, and I'm going to put up my other story now. :) Thank you so much for reading this far!**

**LOVE, OxS**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I own nothing. Oh and sorry for my 6 month long hiatus. :D**

**Enjoy!**

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I knew for a fact that this wasn't hell.

Hell was probably a lot worse.

Then what was it?

My arms, my legs; all of my body hurt so badly. Slowly opening my eyes, I found the familiar generic white ceiling fan hovering over me, twirling its blades, which in turn caused a cool breeze to glance my blazing forehead. I shivered, and turned my head to the side, seeing my dresser. Well, I was definitely in MY room.

Wait a second. I had passed out, hadn't I? My head went fuzzy with confusion, and I almost panicked. That is, until the lights flickered on, the intensity burning my eyes before they adjusted. I recognized the person standing in my doorway to be none other than Zetsu, a serious look on his face.

"Z-Zetsu-senpai?" I stammered weakly, soon stopping afterward. Even my throat hurt. What exactly had happened to me?

"Seikuu." His white side began. The grave tone in his voice didn't do anything to make me feel better about my current condition. I frowned, grunting in pain as I sat up. "Do you know why you passed out?"

I paused. Obviously not, if I had just woken up… I shook my head "No." in response, soon regretting it as a center of pain weighed down the top of my head.

"Your Fukikesu… You used it quite frequently in the past few days, yes?" His black side continued for the white, his tone changed to a more husky nature. I grunted a "Yes.", and Zetsu continued. "The caustic effects that usually follow your usage of the Fukikesu have been delayed from the last few times you used it. Seeing as nothing followed those usages, your body built up the aftermath. Obviously, you're experiencing that aftermath as we speak."

I gazed a moment at Zetsu with incredulity. My _Fukikesu_ caused all this? I thought it would have been an allergic reaction to Muffin or something... But I guess a reaction couldn't have been this dire. I replayed Zetsu's explanation again in my head. So using the Fukikesu frequently within a small period of time caused the effects to delay, indirectly building them up until I went through a period of remission from the ability. Well, that was definitely a new catch. At the moment, it seemed silly to me that all of this could have been caused by a genetic mutation that I had gone through.

"Zetsu-senpai?" A familiar voice chided from the doorway. I didn't have to guess twice who it was. "Is Seikuu-chan alright?"

Zetsu gave me one last fleeting glance before attempting to soften his expression, turning to the orange-masked ninja.

"She'll be okay, Tobi. Just let her rest." Zetsu responded. I couldn't help but think that his softer tone sounded fatherly when he talked to Tobi and I. It was kind of... nice to think about. "Now, we should probably let her sleep."

"Wait." I interrupted, attempting to call out to Tobi as Zetsu ushered him from my view. But only a soft wheeze escaped my lips, and I was in darkness again. In defeat, I fell as softly as I could have back onto the pillows beneath me. So, in other words, I had limited things that I could help the Akatsuki with. I had to admit, it frightened me to think that Pein would be able to throw me out at any time. But then his efforts to break me from the Sand Village would have been wasted, so I guess he wouldn't throw me out quite yet. That is, until I rendered myself completely useless. Hopefully that time would never come.

"Zetsu-senpai, I'll only be a second, don't worry." Tobi's voice came from behind the door. I attempted to sit upright once more, just in case he really was coming back in. I didn't want Tobi to see me like this. The light flooded the room just as I was composing my expression. Tobi's bright orange mask was visible even after he had closed the door. I could've sworn I had heard Hidan cursing at Deidara for something from the neighboring room, but I couldn't make out what for.

In my preoccupied state, I hadn't noticed that Tobi had sat at the end of my bed, cross-legged and facing me expectantly. I found it hard to tell what he was thinking, seeing as his face was covered by his mask.

"Hey." I muttered lamely, my voice a faint whisper. But I wondered if it my quietness was ONLY from my physical dehabilitation, instead of... well, something else I wouldn't let myself admit.

"Hello, Seikuu-chan!" Tobi replied, his voice full and happy, as always. I couldn't help but smile a bit. Just a bit. "So... How are you feeling?" He asked hesitantly after a small silence, as if I would lash out at him. But that was the last thing I felt like exerting energy on right now.

"Okay." I replied simply, not wanting to use my voice too much.

"Oh." Was Tobi's simple response. "Well... Kisame-san made sushi, so... I can get you some if you want! You must be hungry, right?"

"...Sure. Thanks, Tobi." I answered, nodding at the black-haired boy before he saluted and pounced off of my bed, the springs of my mattress quivering from the sudden loss of weight. I blankly stared at the door after him, a headache suddenly clouding my ability to think. Wincing in pain, I attempted to massage my temples, but that didn't do much. It was only another moment or two of pain until Tobi was back in my room, holding one plate of sushi with a side of wasabi dipping sauce. I pulled my hands down from my head, but I still struggled to hide the pain in my expression. Tobi, apparently, noticed this.

"Are you...alright?" Tobi asked as he came up beside me. I'm sure, if his mask weren't covering his face, his eyes would be wrought with worry that I didn't deserve. I tried to look encouraging, but I probably just looked even worse than before.

"Yeah. Headache, sorry." I responded as brightly as I could, taking a plate from Tobi's hands. Tobi paused a moment before returning to his original spot on my bed, digging into his sushi after lifting up his mask so his mouth would be uncovered. I softly giggled to myself before taking a chunk out of the sushi roll, ignoring the wasabi sauce. The chewing wasn't so bad, but when I swallowed, I thought that I was going to choke. I began to cough profusely.

"Seikuu?!" Tobi jumped up suddenly, hurriedly placing his plate on the bed and sliding his mask in place before rushing next to me. If I hadn't been choking, the fact that he had called me "Seikuu" would've embarrassed me even more. Tobi's hand rested on my shoulder, and finally the coughing ceased as the rice and fish slid down the remainder of my esophagus. I let out a long, rushed breath and fell back onto my pillow, regaining oxygen that I had been deprived from.

A moment of silence passed, and I suddenly felt pressure on my lap. I slowly sat up to see none other than Muffin, licking her paw obnoxiously as I glared the best I could muster.

"I...thought you got r-rid of her." I angrily huffed out, shuffling my legs in an attempt to get the fur-demon off of me. The cat hissed in response and pounced off of the bed. Tobi quickly caught her and shrugged.

"I didn't have the heart to. She's just too adorable!" He cooed, scratching behind her ear. Muffin purred, sounding quite like a motor boat.

"...Tobi, _please_." I groaned softly, rolling my eyes. I heard him sigh and he placed Muffin on the ground. I didn't see where she went after that. Once more it was quiet, and that's when I remembered what happened before I had passed out. Tobi...his sharingan. His look of shame when I tried to get a better look... I had to persuade myself that this was the right time to bring it up before I could speak again.

"Tobi...?" I called out. I felt a pressure at the end of my bed again. Apparently, Tobi had sat down again.

"What is it?" He asked pleasantly, his voice upbeat compared to the mood I was sure to bring.

"...Before I passed out..." I began, clearing my throat as I slowly sat back up."...I saw...your Sharingan. And I've noticed... your personality... You can go from silly to serious in a fraction of a second, and most of the time I don't even know why. What _is_ your Sharingan, Tobi? Why...haven't you told me anything about yourself?"

Tobi was still a moment. I didn't take this as a good sign. "...But I told you my name, Seikuu-chan!"

"...You know what I mean." I pressed persistently, hardening my expression. Tobi's head drooped, and his hand moved to his face, pulling off his mask. I was taken aback when his gaze met mine, his Sharingan activated and his stare inescapable. I was relieved when his gaze left mine. The hypnotic crimson color had almost lulled me into a trance.

"...Seikuu-chan..." His voice was no longer happy or airy. Even though it was Tobi's voice, I was still discouraged by his unfamiliar grave pitch. "...Do you really want to know?"

"...Yes." I responded hesitantly. It was too late to turn back now. And plus, something about Tobi just made me want to know more about him, know it all. I wouldn't pass up an opportunity such as this.

"...You have to promise me one thing." Tobi murmured. I replied with a questioning stare. "You have to promise that you won't say a word to anyone. Not to Pein, not to Konan, not to Deidara-senpai."

"...Of course." I replied, still unsure.

"My real name...is Uchiha Madara."

----

Tobi... I would still call him that. He would still be a childish kid, and he would still be my best friend, my only friend. But I wouldn't be able to hate him so much anymore, not after all that he's told me. His life... was amazing. Compared to him... I'm really nothing.

"Seikuu-chan?" Tobi softly asked. I was glad to hear he still held innocence in his voice. It gave me momentary solace that he was still MY Tobi, not this Uchiha guy.

"Ye-Yes?" I inquired after a moment.

"Are you...alright?" He reached out to me and put a hand on my knee. I tensed under his touch, and thinking it was disgust instead of slight pain due to my illness, he pulled away.

"I'm fine." I did my best to sound encouraging. Although, I sounded more undecided than encouraging.

"...I'll let you rest." Tobi sounded disappointed as he stood from the end of my bed. On impulse, my hand shot out and grabbed his wrist, stopping him in his tracks.

"...No...please stay, Tobi...Please?" I whispered, avoiding eye contact with him. I inwardly wished he was still wearing his mask. It was much more...intimidating to talk straight to his face, for some reason. But Tobi didn't have time to respond.

"Seikuu, Tobi." Pein stormed into my bedroom, flipping on the light. Pain pressed from behind my eyes, and my hands automatically shot up to cover them, taking in a breath of shock at the suffering I was experiencing. I remained silent, and Tobi's weight lifted from the bed once more. I assumed he had stood up in respect.

"Yes, Leader-sama?" Tobi asked, but there was a distinct biting edge to his words. Something must have happened between them while I had been unconscious. I guess he hadn't stood up in respect then. Probably more for intimidation.

"Your **cat**," Pein hissed. This definitely wasn't good. "...was actually a kunoichi of Amegakure sent here to retrieve information about the Akatsuki. Did you ever realize this?"

"...No, Leader-sama." Tobi responded, absolutely stoic now. I removed my hands from my eyeballs to stare warily at Pein. He most certainly hadn't been joking. But how hadn't Tobi or I noticed Muffin wasn't really a cat? And how come Pein had just found out? ...What in the world was going on?

"...You two are to track down and eliminate 'Muffin', as well as anyone that gets in your way or whom 'Muffin' has spoken to about our organization." Pein ordered. I couldn't help but think this was a little TOO sudden for my taste. "No screw ups. Understand?"

"But Leader-sama, I don't think that Seikuu is fully healed yet." Tobi immediately responded, his sudden concern catching me off guard.

"What's that? _Seikuu_'s not ready? Is that true, Seikuu?" Pein asked me. He almost sounded like he was... mocking Tobi. I was beyond confusion at this point.

"O-Of course not, Leader-sama." I lied, doing my best to sound strong. Traveling deeper into an impassable territory was something I did not plan on doing, and I was in pretty deep with Pein already. I knew I would have to go along with what he said no matter what, or it was off with my head (so to speak). I didn't dare contradict him.

"So, then, I'm assuming you two will be off. Once _your_ punishment is over, that is." Pein said thickly to Tobi, no hint of remorse as he stepped out of my room, leaving me to simmer in anger and confusion.

"What was he talking about, Tobi? _Your_ punishment...?" I asked briskly, irritated beyond belief at my own ignorance.

"...Seikuu-chan, you're in this condition now from your Fukikesu, **and **from Pein. This is his 'punishment' for you for letting in Muffin." Tobi responded, careful not to make eye contact with me. I felt my anger build up, but Tobi continued before I could fully react. "I confessed that _**I**_ let Muffin in, and so now I'm punished too. My wounds are just as bad as yours."

"...That...He's..." I tried to speak, but was caught on my own words. I found myself incredulous and infuriated, but not at Pein. At Tobi. "...H-How could you _do_ that?! I lied so that.... that THIS wouldn't happen! I lied so that you wouldn't end up just like this!!"

"I-I'm sorry, Seikuu-chan! Really, this was supposed to be _my_ punishment, not yours!" He cried in response, back to his old, childish self as he took a few backsteps towards the door.

"..J-Just get out, Tobi!! Get out!!!" I picked up the sushi plate from the end of the bed, chucking it at Tobi and missing him by a fraction of a centimeter. It shattered on contact with the wall, and then fell to the ground below. Tobi just stood rooted to the spot, staring at the plate. He then wordlessly took one last look at me before picking up his mask from the ground and leaving my room, shutting the door behind him. I didn't know if his feelings were hurt or what but I really didn't care.

In the darkness, I suddenly felt how alone I really was. How alone I always would be. It was also then I knew that not even Tobi could change me, that I would never have anyone to turn to. I sat silently, my eyes welling over with tears as I buried my face in my hands.

"...That damned...idiot..."

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**A/N: So? Hope it was up to expectations. I haven't written in a really long while, so...yeah... Reviewing strongly appreciated! :)**

**Love, MakingAprilxx**


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